US dollar rises ahead of Fed statement

New York, Sep 21 (IANS) The US dollar increased against most major currencies as investors were awaiting the Federal Reserve statement due to release on Wednesday.

In late New York trading on Tuesday, the euro fell to $1.1161 from $1.1175 of the previous session, and the British pound declined to $1.2975 from $1.3030, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Australian dollar climbed to $0.7550 from $0.7547.

The dollar bought 101.83 Japanese yen, higher than 101.79 yen in the previous session. The dollar dipped to 0.9790 Swiss francs from 0.9800 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3213 Canadian dollars from 1.3191 Canadian dollars.

The US central bank kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. Investors kept a close eye on its after-meeting statement on Wednesday to get more information about the pace of further rate-hikes.

Analysts said the recent over downbeat economic data from the country has boosted bets that the Fed will skip the chance to raise rates in its September, yet a December-hike may be still on the table.

On the economic front, US privately-owned housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,142,000, missing market consensus, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday.

This is 5.8 per cent below the revised July estimate of 1,212,000, but is 0.9 per cent above the August 2015 rate of 1,132,000.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.16 per cent at 95.998 in late trading.